It’s mid-September…the honeymoon is over. The excitement of the school year has worn off and Thanksgiving seems like an eternity away. If your school is anything like the one I visited today (a few kids having meltdown, a few kids visiting the sensory room…). This is the perfect time to revisit social stories!

Social stories aren’t new. You’ve probably heard of them, maybe even used them before with your classes. They’re so simple that you might think, “That can’t possibly work,” or you might have just forgotten about them! However, never underestimate the power of helping kids know what to expect! For example, if there’s a fire drill, and Johnny seems to cry every single time we have one, we can read the social story first so he knows what to expect. By relaying what is going to happen, Johnny knows what the social situation is and how to react appropriately.

It’s a win-win! Using social stories with your students will increase your students’ independence and their ability to handle changes in the routine. Using social stories will also help you reclaim your sanity because happy, engaged, confident students will restore peace to your classroom!

We have a few resources that you might find helpful as you start using social stories:

Here’s a post on how to write a social story: https://sis4teachers.org/2015/05/social-stories/

Here’s a post we did on websites and apps you can use to create/share social stories: https://sis4teachers.org/2016/05/resources-for-social-stories/

Finally, my friend Lauren and I put together a collection of (free!) social stories that are ready to use! Download the PDF, print, and go! Find them on our Behavior Resources page:

https://sis4teachers.org/behavior-resources/